How to Calculate Diving Weight

Generally, diving weights should be about 5 percent of the diver's body weight, depending on the type of tank and wet suit being used. Calculate the proper diving weight to remain at a mid-fluid buoyancy with helpful advice from the owner of a Miami dive store in this free video on scuba diving.

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Video Transcript

Hi my name is Valerie Kevorkian and I'm with Tarpoon Lagoon Dive Center Miami Beach, Florida. In this clip I'm going to tell you how to calculate the proper amount of weight for scuba diving. The proper amount of weight is important so that you are neither floating or sinking and you want to remain mid-fluid while scuba diving. Generally the proper amount of weight is calculated by 5% of your body weight. Depending on what type of tank you are using may fluctuate that weight just a little bit. If you are using an aluminum tank you may use a little bit more. If you are using a steel tank then you may want to use a little bit less weight. Also what type of exposure suit you're wearing is going to influence the amount of weight that you wear. The thicker the wet suit the more weight you are going to be wearing. So this can be done by speaking to your professional dive center and they can help you calculate that weight depending on your diving needs. Our diver has his weight belt set up. After he has talked it over with his dive shop, decided what type of diving he is going to use, what type of tank and wet suit he is going to be wearing and he has positioned the weights on his weight belt so that they will be situated on either side of his hips distributing the weight evenly. Putting on the weight belt is quite simple. You want to make sure that you're wearing your weight belt with a right hand release so that your weight belt buckle is being held in your left hand. Being able to pull the weight belt with a quick release buckle is important, again using the right hand release. The weight belt is worn above the hips comfortably situating the weights on either side of your hips so that the tank will lie in the center of the weights. Should you be needing more weights than our diver is wearing equally distribute them around your back. Again this has been Valerie Kevorkian and thank you for watching.